The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-08
STORIES ABOUT SNAKES.
EXPERIENCES RELATED BY VERA
CIOUS CALIFORNIA MEN.

BAtEHlENSED IbEilJ1a III4J NG0A-
CIOUS CT LIFORNIA MEN.
Stories About RattlesnalSes, Some of
Which are True and Some of Which
Need a Good Deal of Confirmation
How Senator Hearst Got Into Nest
of Them.
From the Ne,o York Times
The Hoffman House apothecary shop is
practically the New York headquarters for
travelling Calfornians. The WeSterner on
q tour is very fond of Bouguereau pictures
and statuary, and ''sich" whenever he can
look at it through glassware. Everybody
knows everybody else in the land of climate,
and one man from San Francisco never sits
down to a table in the saloon without every
other Californian who drops in comes and
takes seat by him. Consequently the ex-
change of climatic views and the telling of
stories is regular thing. The other even
ing the conversation ran on snakes Snakes
are a poor subject for cheerful talk in an
apothecary shop, but everybody was in
terested and had something to tell Some
of the stories had only scientific value,
others merely romantic worth; but they
were interesting.
ton upon the virulence of rattlesnake poison
He told OF miner on the Yuba, in early
days, who was bitten through the bootleg
by a big ''rattler'' and died. His traps were
taken care of, including the boot he wore
when bitten. Nobody wore them, however,
for eight months. Then miner put them
on, and in doing so scratched his leg
slightly. In eight hours he was dead and
the needle-lille fang of the rattlesnake was
fO,,ol .+;oly,,o. tbrra,1tri, tl,a nnn+larr Tbo
poison had kept its strength during all that
period.
1.-THE strangest thing about the poison,
too" said another, sis the fact that the
chemical analysis of it shows it TO be com
posed of the most harmless ingredients, OK
ygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon, moth
ing more. 1t can be swallowed without the
slightest injury"
ooh, yes" said gentleman of unques-
toned veracity. 81 have eaten rattlesnake
in Arizona, not because was snake hungry,
but out of curiosity. The meat is as white
as milk and very delicate. The Yuma In
dians are very fond of it."
Speaking of Yuma, y said a surveyor Just
in from the Phoenix mine, 81 was surveying
in San Diego county III 1873 with Gen. ii. L.
Wiley late Surveyor General of California
It's bad county for snakes, because they
are a grayish brown, nearly the color of the
time to walk into one. In the hot season
they get blind and silent and strike without
rafting just at the time when their poison
is at its worst There's curious
fact, by the way, that every plain
in Southern California exemplifies. Ordi-
narily birds make their nests where they
can't be seen without difficulty. You know
how hard it is to find birds nest in the
average tree. Well, all over these plains
there grows a cactus called the 'choya.' 1t
is just collection of thin prickly sticks
branching and covered with spines. But
pretty nearly every 'choya' you see has a
birds nest in it, rising little above the sur
rounding sage brush, and in plain sight of
everybody. The birds build in these for
protection. The snakes can't slide up to the
'choya' on account of the spines. Every
snakes belly is soft, and it takes very little
to penetrateit. You've heard of sleeping in
side of horse-hair lariat when camping.
Well, that's the reason of it. A horse-ha
robe is so prickly that a rattlesnake won't
eros it under any circumstances.
Il was going to say" he continued, "that
Wiley and 1 camped by spring in a pretty
dry country, there being a grove of oaks
near the water. He and Irolled up together
at night in two pairs of blankets and, being
tired, went sound to sleep about 9 O'clock
1t was about | in the morning when Wiley
slowly Weakened. He told me afterward that
he seemed to be under the influence of a
terrible fear that had come on him while
asleep. He opened his eyes, but didn't dare
to move. AS he tried to get his wits he felt
a slow, creeping motion of something heavy
going over his right arm. His right arm
was inside the blankets, and was between
him and me. The General is a thorough
bred. He has plenty of nerve and presence
of mind. He knew exactly what it was,
but without moving he called to me.
Med said he, in a quiet tone
~ was sound asleep. He had TO call three
times before |, fortunately without moving,
said:
'''Whatr '
"'Do not move muscle said he. do
you understand mer Y
Eyes, said 1. You can bet was wide
awake then.
''There is a rattlesnake in the blankets
between us. When l say three kick loose
and jump
Gone, two, three said the General
slow, and we jumped. They were pretty
good jumps, as you can imagine. Then we
threw a branch ON the fire, and when it
blazed up we went up for the snake He
had coiled in the blankets, and you can bet
he was ugly. A pretty big fellow, too-six-
teen rattles and button"
lone of the most horrible rattlesnake ex-
periences | ever heard, /" said Col Jim With
ington, was told me by lady who is one of
the managers of a childrens charitable So
ciety in San Francisco. 1t happened only a
couple of years ago. They have good
many little waits to take care of in the So
ciety's home, and put them out for adoption
whenever they can get a good home for
them Among them was a little orphan
man and his wife, WHO soon afterward
moved down to Kern county ON n ranch